Make in Bharat: The only way to being #AtmaNirbhar

Most companies are now resorting to work from home. That is, remote work is the new normal.

Migrants are going back. They were the ones constructing and making for industries. Will they go back to heartless cities anytime soon? Your guess is as good as mine. Do they have money to survive? No.

According to the Azim Premji University COVID-19 Livelihoods Survey, about 80% of urban workers lost their jobs during the lockdown. The average weekly earnings of those who were still employed fell by 61%.Are these migrant workers and their skills needed ? Totally yes !

Industries are forced to cut costs (assuming they get to start operations very soon).

What does this mean? What does #atmanirbhar India mean? Self reliance? But how?

Bharat vs India

So far, Bharat was considered a *sachet* consumption story. The entire narrative around NextBillion Users is consumption – i.e. Bharat market is hungry for content – so let them load with audio and video.

Little did we realize that Bharat market is all about creation – which also explains why a fluffy app like TikTok is more popular in Bharat market than India – because TikTok mandates creation and not just mindless scrolling or trolling !

The Bharat market is a creation market but the ones living in AC offices have categorized it as India 2 / India 3 – which is well, just a categorization far away from the truth.

We can only be self reliant when we move the work to where the work happens, i.e. Bharat. Because migrants/entrepreneurs aren’t coming back anytime soon.

We need to impart employment skills to millions of people out there and revive industries by by enabling micro-entrepreneurship.

FYI: The gig economy is a fancy term for what Bharat market has been practicing for many years – they know ‘how to get things done’.

Bharat is skillful. India needs to figure out how to work if #self-reliance #AtmaNirbhar is our focus.

If you are an entrepreneur, understanding this shift in your industry will be a big moat going forward.